BUILDING AND ORNAMENTAL STONES. 457 



The Berea grit, as quarried for building purposes, may be described 

 as a fine-grained homogeneous sandstone, of a very light buff, gray, or 

 blue-gray eolor, and very evenly bedded, the individual sheets varying 

 from a few inches to 10 or more feet in thickness. In many places this 

 evenness of bedding is especially remarkable, as in some of the quar- 

 ries of Trumbull County, where blocks of stone 10 feet square and 

 only 1 J inches thick have been extracted, and with surfaces so smooth 

 and straight that a straight-edge laid upon them would touch at every 

 point. Slabs but 1 or 2 inches in thickness are said to have such 

 strength, that they go into general use without question. In one case 

 a strip 150 feet long, 5 feet wide, and but 3 inches thick was reported 

 as raised intact from the quarry bed. The various layers, although 

 closely compacted, are, however, perfectly distinct, adhering to one 

 another " scarcely more than sawn planks in a pile." 



Like many of the sandstones of this horizon, the Berea grits contain 

 but little cementing material, the various particles being held together 

 mainly by cohesion induced by the pressure to which they were sub- 

 jected at the time of their consolidation. They are, therefore, soft, 

 working readily in any direction, and are particularly sought for carving. 



This property also renders the stone of especial value for the manu- 

 facture of grindstones, since the presence of a cement will nearly al- 

 ways cause a stone to glaze and its cutting power be thereby nearly if 

 not quite destroyed. Unfortunately the Berea stone nearly always 

 contains more or less sulphide of iron (pyrite) and needs to be selected 

 with care. The best varieties will usually become yellowish on long 

 exposure, but this is not in all cases injurious. Indeed, this property 

 of u mellowing with age " is now claimed as one of the good qualities 

 of the stone. When, however, the pyrite occurs in such quantities as 

 to produce by its oxidation unsightly blotches its presence is, of course, 

 objectionable. 



The principal quarries of the stone at present writing are situated in 

 the towns of Amherst, Berea, East Cleveland, Ilyria, and Independence 

 in Lorain and Cuyahoga Counties. 



At Amherst the quarries are located in a series of ledges which were 

 once the shore cliffs of Lake Erie. The elevated position of the stones 

 is a great advantage, since the light and uniform color seems due to 

 the fact that this elevation produces a free drainage, and the stones 

 have been traversed by atmospheric waters to such a degree that all 

 processes of oxidation which are possible have been very nearly com- 

 pleted. The stone here as elsewhere varies considerably in character 

 and solidity within limited distances. The following section of one of 

 the Amherst quarries is given by Professor Orton : 



Feet. 



Drift material 1 to 3 



Worthless shell-rock 6 to 10 



Soft rock for grindstones only.. 12 



Building stone 3 



Bridge stone 2 



' Feet. 



Grindstone 2 



Building and grindstone 10 



Building stone 4 to 7 



Building stone or grindstone 12 



